Money help: I signed up with AT&T for internet service. - Help.com

mtnsidehom wrote:
I signed up

So you made a contract, and you have to accomplish it.
You cannot cancel it outside of the cancelation period (see the contract).
That’s all.
Your fault!

Hopefully one of my friends know the answer. Just make sure you keep all paper records and any emails too. If your phone bill shows you called them several times hold onto that too. You may need to press legal action against them in small claims court, which might just shy them away instantly.

Well . . . if a company fails to deliver on its agreed terms, it would be in breach of its contract. My guess is that you signed the telephone company’s contract. Most people never think to NEGOTIATE these contracts . . . they just sign what is in front of them.

I suggest that you do this: contact a person “high up” in AT&T . . . like the CEO. Explain to him what happened. Don’t get ignorant in your letter. And you WILL have to send a “snail mail” letter, because every company has dolts that simply hit the “delete” key for email. Send it certified, return receipt, so you have proof of receipt.

Tell the CEO that you didn’t sign up to deal with a collection agency, and you simply won’t deal with one because the dispute is between you and AT&T. Tell him/her that you don’t have a problem with paying your bill, but that you didn’t get the service you paid for.

You can always dispute credit reports. And you can “ding” the phone company in online reviews. With the internet, that “dinging” thing now works both ways!

Talking with the AT&T people on the phone isn’t likely to do any good, because you are talking with low-level clerks who have NO POWER to help you. All they can do is parrot the company’s demand for payment. You MIGHT be able to get a supervisor who might be willing to help. If you do, record all the details on a sheet of paper: time, date, supervisor’s name, what was discussed and what both of you promised to do.

You have to climb up beyond the “clerk” level to get anything done. The low-level clerks aren’t going to do a thing, because they are not empowered to do so. You can let the “supervisor” with whom you speak know that you will contact the CEO, and also write a letter to the newspaper and also “ding” the company in online reviews if you don’t get any action.

Tell them: “Look, all I want is the service I signed up for. And I want you to adjust the bill to reflect that I wasn’t getting. And I want you to cancel all that stuff to do with the collection agency, because I won’t deal with it–period.”

Be polite, but be firm. When they see that you are likely to cause them some trouble, they’ll be much more likely to adjust your bill!

I don’t really know anything better to tell you than what has already been said.

I will, however, tell you that this is not the first time AT&T has done stuff like this. In fact, they are infamous for their bad record keeping and billing process.

IF the phone company sends an adverse report to the credit reporting agencies, you can dispute it.

You can also bring pressure to bear against AT&T. I recommend the letter to the CEO once again.

Their call centers are chaos. Requests are not forwarded, and you can never reach the same person twice. Whenever I deal with a call center, I make meticulous notes, so I can say who said what. I always get a “confirmation number” of what went on, and what was promised.

Write to the CEO. You can also use this as evidence to any credit agency that you tried to resolve the situation. You can also refer them to the Fair Billing Act.

Here are some links:

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consu…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Cre…

Don’t deal with the collection agency . . . they are NOT going to take you to court!

chev.jame wrote:
Don’t deal with the collection agency . . . they are NOT going to take you to court!

Exactly.

Also, for future dealings with corporations over the telephone (and to improve current cheerfulness), please watch the following informational video:

Original on YouTube.com